Sakura
by fiercejinx
Summary: Because sometimes we all need someone to stop us when we run away.
1. Sakura

_Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of the characters._

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_Summary: Inuyasha chose Kikyou and left Kagome to pick up the pieces of her broken love. Now, under a Sakura tree, Kagome must come to terms with her lost love and one taiyoukai is perhaps the best person to help her do that._

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Sakura- Cherry blossom

Youkai - Demon

Taiyoukai- something like Great Demon

Miko- Priestess

Haori – The top part of Inuyasha's kimono

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A/N: Don't forget to review, guys!!! ^_^

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**Sakura**

Late afternoon sunlight falls serenely on rooftops of little huts and on the gently swaying trees. In the village streets, children are playing and calling out to one another. Men get ready to return home after a hard day on the farm. Wives light the cooking fires and start to prepare dinner as they wait for their husbands. Mothers call out to their children to come inside, playtime's over. Birds are twittering as they prepare to rest for the night. The wind blows softly through the trees and everything is peaceful. At the outskirts of the village, in front of a sakura tree, a miko and youkai watch the sun set.

She is looks at the sky through the sakura blossoms, a small smile on her lips. He looks at her for a while, then asks,

"Do you miss him?"

She does not turn to look at him. Silent tears start to cascade down her cheeks. She is still smiling.

"No."

He turns back to looks at the cherry blossom, some falling down, some flying away.

"I see." Silence.

Then-

"Sesshoumaru?" she begins, still staring at the red and orange sky. He glances at her to let her know he is listening,

"Have you ever been in love?"

He laughs his short, bark like laugh. "Why, miko?"

"I was just wondering if wounds of a broken heart ever heal."

Sesshoumaru looks away from the darkening sky and turns to her and answers seriously. "It is not a wound."

She turns to face him. "They say lost love leaves a permanent scar."

"Those who have truly been in love know that love never wounds."

"So if love is true then it doesn't hurt?

He looks away into the distance to gaze at the setting sun. "It hurts more than anything else."

She holds out her palm and a cherry blossom falls into it, soft as a kiss. The light, cool wind washes over her and she is drowning in memories, of fiery red haori and an even more fiery spirit, other silver hair and molten gold eyes and a warm friendship and a forever love. Her throat is suddenly tight as she stares at the cherry blossom in her hand. They remain silent and watch the evening slowly turning into night. Sesshoumaru breaks the silence.

"You cannot forget him."

"I don't want to."

"Good."

Then she says-

"I don't want to be alone."

He glances at her and sees the scars. "It is already done."

She bows her head and feels the weight of Conclusion. "I can't go back."

"No you cannot."

"Will he remember me?"

"He will never forget you."

The tears fall afresh. "That is not the same thing."

He answers gently. "No it is not."

"I have to move forward."

"Yes."

They are silent and their clothes and hair sway gently in the wind. In the darkening twilight amid cherry blossoms blowing in the wind, Sesshoumaru watches Kagome take leave of her past. She opens her palm and the cherry blossom is blown away with the wind.

"Sesshoumaru?"

He turns towards her. "Yes?"

When she looks at him, her eyes are clear and they seem to stare into his soul.

"Have you ever had your heart broken?"

He stares back into hers.

"Miko, I have never been in love."

She smiles. "I see."

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	2. Fire and Smiles

A/N: Sorry for the long wait, guys! I had exams and stuff and I don't like to write till I can really put all my thought and feelings into it and this story is especially close to my heart.

And by the way, please REVIEW, people!! For the 1st chapter, I got just 1 review. Whether you like it or don't like it, even if its just one line or one word, please comment. Of course, longer the better. NO FLAMES or I will flame back.

**Chapter 2** – **Fire and Smiles**

The forest is quiet, too quiet for an uneventful day. No birds chirping, no sounds of animals. The atmosphere is heavy with tension.

In a clearing in the heart of the forest, a pristine figure stands poised. He is ethereal, inhuman. The faint sunlight in the forest makes his silver hair shimmer like molten platinum. The dark, heavy armor he wears so effortlessly absorbs the light. The sunlight makes the tips of his claws glint.

It is one of those days when the past catches up with you. He looks up, closes his eyes and remembers; the unfulfilled promises, the betrayals that should never have hurt, the wounds that should have healed by now…he remembers the lives he has taken, the one he should have, regrets that could not have been otherwise; the one he can't forget, the one he had to forgive; all the failures that no one saw, all the victories that meant nothing; his imperfections, his shame, his weakness…

The wind around him picks up and starts to whirl around him, like a tornado but one that _he_ commands. The wind quickens and he closes his eyes. He starts to turn, slowly on the spot, then faster, white silk whipping about him, every movement elegant, regal. He opens his eyes and they are red, although his face is expressionless, blank as always.

His anger flares incandescent, violent. _Burning _anger; strong and pure. He revels in the sensation and after a long, long time, allows himself to feel. He raises a hand, slowly, with easy grace. His hand glows green, and the acid whip cuts graceful arcs in the air, the beauty hiding their deadliness. Faster and faster he turns, his form almost a blur now. Seemingly random formations of his whip move in tight, controlled precision.

It is his dance, and no one is permitted to watch. Not many dare to come close enough to watch; some brave fools who do, do not survived it. The quiet forest air seems to crackle with the force of his youki, his fury and he opens his eyes, the glint in them concentrated, lethal. He is close to losing control. Close but not quite there, or the forest would not be standing. Dancing on the edge as he always does. It feels intoxicating, divine.

At the edge of the clearing, a young girl sits perched on the edge of a rock; casually, as though she has every right to be there.

He has sensed her presence and he is annoyed. She has disturbed his solitude and at _this_ time too. He is irritated but does not show it. He slows his movements and the wind dies down gradually. He looks at her and frowns. The look of mild irritation on his face would have sent many a lesser demons scrambling for cover. "Leave."

She looks up at him calmly. "No."

He snarls, frustrated, demon dangerously close to the surface. "Go away. You will get hurt." He shows her dangerously sharp claws, tipped with acid. "I could kill you like this."

"You could but you won't."

"You presume to know me, ningen?"

She has the audacity to smirk. "Better than many, less than some."

"You know nothing!" A flick of his finger and the tree behind her falls to the ground, sliced neatly near the base. She doesn't even flinch. She laughs instead.

"What are you trying to prove? That you can cut trees?"

He grits his teeth despite himself. "I can cut you just as easily, miko." He warns.

She looks amused. "Am I supposed to be scared?"

"Yes." He answers frankly.

Miko and youkai stare each other down and in the quiet of the forest, the tension stretches taut. When he speaks, his voice is dangerously low, quiet. Many a prideful demons have learnt to fear that voice.

"I do not wish to have to kill you, miko. Do not make me angrier than I already am. I do not desire company right now. I have…matters to deal with. So leave. Now."

She does not look at him but stares for a long while at the stump of the tree he just brought down. The base is slightly melted, though the cut is clean. Then she turns towards him fully and there is no trace of amusement in her eyes. "Those who hide behind fire…"

His eyes narrow in anger, as is daring her to continue.

"Those who hide behind fire will never know..." she stops unexpectedly and looks down.

He raises a brow. "Will never know….?"

She meets his eyes. "…peace."

_Peace_. To be…content. To not have to fight. Roses without thorns. _Peace requires forgiveness_…he thinks, _and I cannot pay the price for it…again._ He looks away. "It is…not worth it."

She tilts her chin in a haughty imitation of him. "And how would you know?"

He ignores the question and looks at her, his intense gaze boring into her. "Those who hide behind smiles will always be…"

She smiles mockingly. "Alone?"

He shakes his head. "Empty."

The smile slips from her face and she turns away. _Empty_. Not alone, empty. It is much worse. _Have I come that far?_

But she doesn't say anything to him.

They stay like that for a while, each thinking their own thoughts, fighting their own demons. Maybe this time they will win? The forest gradually comes to life around them. She sighs.

"Aren't you tired?"

He snorts. "Never." _Yes_

She turns to face him suddenly. "Let's stop," she says.

He is taken aback for an instant. "Stop?"

"Yes. We both need to learn some things. It has been too long, hasn't it?"

He doesn't meet her eyes and she can see the reflections, of incomplete memories and half healed wounds and unsaid things and wrongly told secrets. Too long…

He is startled by the feel of her soft hand on his arm. "Don't think of it," she interrupts "The future…"

He looks at her and she smiles "The future…belongs to us. No more shadows."

He has never believed it before. But right now, looking into Kagome's eyes, he thinks, _maybe…maybe it does_. He feels a weight lift from his soul.

"No more shadows." He repeats softly. The sun sets slowly behind the mountains, but surprisingly, it doesn't seem grey, just black.

Which is better?

They both knew.


	3. Of Naming and Its Folly

**Review Responses: **

Jane Doe- Thank you! I hope you enjoy this next chapter too...

Soulspirit18 - Well, had kind of planned to make them connected but I guess they're not really moving forward, so you can say that they're not exactly connected but kinds sequential as their relationship develops. Thank you for reviewing!

**Sakura chapter 3: Of Naming and Its Folly**

One cold night, standing alone in the front yard of her house, Kagome remembers him and she is struck by the irreversible differences between her and the one she had never meant to fall in love with. She wonders how much he has thought about it. She wonders if he knows the ending. The human miko and the youkai lord. The mortal and the immortal.

She looks at the inky black sky; dark and full of stars today. No moon, no clouds. And she thinks, _he is all things dark – stormy skies and endless winters._

Somewhere not far away, in the peaceful darkness of the forest, Sesshoumaru also looks at the starlit sky and thinks that she is all things light – sunlit fields on a late summer morning and cherry blossoms on the waiting wind. The colors of her powers are soft pink and lavender although she wears white and green.

He makes his way to Kagome's hut although it is late. But he knows she will be awake. On this restless, cold night, he knows she would not be able to sleep.

Kagome feels his youki coming closer long before she can see him. The colors of his youki are black and gold, although he wears white and red.

Then she can see him, white silk faintly glowing in the moonless night, eerie golden eyes looking at her steadily, unblinkingly, as he comes close to her. Everyone says he is unreadable, but she can read him so well, that at times he wonders why he lets her. He is Ruthless. Invincible. Heartless.

"No," she says softly, as he comes to stand half facing her, "never that." He wishes that was not true.

"Do not seek to be close to me," he whispers, inhuman golden eyes glowing, "for I am cold. I have lost the warmth of fire long ago and now, all that is left is burning."

_I am cold because I have seen too much and burning because it was not enough and I fear if you seek to touch me, you will be hurt. Inuyasha…Inuyasha was fire and warmth and you deserve him. _

But he doesn't say all this. Instead, he says, "You deserve better."

She hears him anyway. She takes his hand and says quietly, "Let me be close to you, because I am Light and I will not burn. I have suffered more than the misfortune. I deserve you."

_I will not be burnt by your cold because I have been cold for so long, so long. And now I am tired of suffering nothing at all, and if you are with me, perhaps I can forget and remember and you will know that it was never meant to be like this. You will know that it couldn't have happened any other way._

He draws away and when he looks at her, his eyes are haunted with crimes past and memories undone and regrets unforgotten. The inhuman things that a demon does; all the things a demon does not regret; all the things that caused so much pain and so many endings and he will never be forgiven for them because he does not know how to ask for forgiveness.

"Do not forget my true nature, miko," he warns. "Beauty and perfection are illusions. I am a demon."

When she looks at him, her eyes are of one who has seen too much in nothing. "They always are. Do not forget that I have learnt my lesson. I am a healer."

Yes, a healer. She has healed many and helped many and saved many; she has seen all that people need to be saved from, healed from and it has left her so hollow, because it was never enough and old wounds always reopen so what was the point? The illusion of healing and the ugliness of death – but he is the Killing Perfection and how can they possibly be together?

Miko and youkai stare each other down and in between them, the chasm of their differences yawns and widens. They are sun and moon. They are ice and air. They can never meet, be one. And now, there is no going back.

The stars wink at them, mocking them, as if to say, _you know it will never work. There is too much that needs to be forgiven and you are no longer strong enough to do it. For your crimes, for your mistakes, you will be an unfinished story._

They remember, all the reasons why it shouldn't happen and isn't it strange how those are so easily remembered? They remember why they shouldn't. Because it has happened before and has it ever gone right? No or they would never be here- together and incomplete. Because they still have burdens to bear but nothing, no task to complete because that is all over and what is left now? Their lives.

They turn to each other slowly, afraid to make that decision to run away. They have both never run away before, and so they don't know how, but this time, this time, maybe they should learn. Those who run away always have something to do, unlike these two who have done what they had to do.

They look at each other and when their eyes meet, they remember all the reasons why this is wrong.

Then they laugh.

…at the absurdity of Naming. She remembers – the demon who wielded the Sword of Life and Death, the demon who passed descended into hell to rescue a little girl who loved him. The man who broke the sword of hatred, the man who challenged his fate and won, but all that mattered most was still lost. The Taiyouka who surpassed Inu no Taisho, the one overcame a lot of demons; the world's and his own. The man who was destined for greatness but now he was this.

He remembers- The miko who carried a darkness in her soul. The Light who had lost a lot and now, inside, was as dark as him. The priestess who never believed in god. The girl from the future who chose to live in the past. The powerful miko who befriended a youkai.

The honorable demon and the jaded priestess. They were the sun and the moon. Demon and healer. The one who killed and the one who gave life. Ice and air. Unbreakable and fragile. But which one was which?

The differences are only in Name. His hand slowly seeks out hers and she closes her fingers around his.

The darkness of the chasm shatters into a thousand crystalline pieces like the unmendable remnants of a forgotten mistake.

When his hand closes around hers, for that moment, they are whole again and they think, _just for that, it is worth it._

Kagome and Sesshoumaru link hands and gaze at the stars.


End file.
